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Ennead
The Ennead or Great Ennead was a group of nine deities in Egyptian mythology worshipped at Heliopolis: the sun god Atum; his children Shu and Tefnut; their children Geb and Nut; and their children Osiris, Isis, Set, and Nephthys. The Ennead sometimes includes Horus the Elder; an ancient form of the falcon god, not the son of Osiris and Isis. Status within ancient Egypt The Great Ennead was only one of several such groupings of nine deities in ancient Egypt. Claims to preeminence made by its Heliopolitan priests were not respected throughout Egypt, as each nome typically had its own local deities, whose priests insisted stood above all others; even in the nearby city of Memphis, which along with Heliopolis is contained within the limits of modern Cairo, the priests of Ptah celebrated him as singularly superior to the Nine — In addition to Memphis having its own creation myth, the contemporaneous city of Hermopolis had another creation story, the '' Ogdoad'', tha ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Egyptian Mythology
Egyptian mythology is the collection of myths from ancient Egypt, which describe the actions of the Egyptian pantheon, Egyptian gods as a means of understanding the world around them. The beliefs that these myths express are an important part of ancient Egyptian religion. Myths appear frequently in Egyptian Ancient Egyptian literature, writings and Art of ancient Egypt, art, particularly in short stories and in religious material such as hymns, ritual texts, Ancient Egyptian funerary texts, funerary texts, and Egyptian temple, temple decoration. These sources rarely contain a complete account of a myth and often describe only brief fragments. Inspired by the cycles of nature, the Egyptians saw time in the present as a series of recurring patterns, whereas the earliest periods of time were linear. Myths are set in these earliest times, and myth sets the pattern for the cycles of the present. Present events repeat the events of myth, and in doing so renew ''maat'', the fundament ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tefnut
Tefnut ( ; ) is a deity in Ancient Egyptian religion, the feminine counterpart of the air god Shu. Her mythological function is less clear than that of Shu, but Egyptologists have suggested she is connected with moisture, based on a passage in the Pyramid Texts in which she produces water, and on parallelism with Shu's connection with dry air. She was also one of the goddesses who could function as the fiery Eye of Ra. Etymology The name Tefnut has no certain etymology but it may be an onomatopoeia of the sound of spitting, as Atum spits her out in some versions of the creation myth. Additionally, her name was written as a mouth spitting in late texts. Other interpretations include a link to the moon or the passage of time as related to the dead. It is also possible that she is linked to Tefen, a deity of which there is little evidence of, but may share etymology as meaning "orphan and orphaness." Like most Egyptian deities, including her brother, Tefnut has no single ideograph ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Isis
Isis was a major goddess in ancient Egyptian religion whose worship spread throughout the Greco-Roman world. Isis was first mentioned in the Old Kingdom () as one of the main characters of the Osiris myth, in which she resurrects her slain brother and husband, the divine king Osiris, and produces and protects his heir, Horus. She was believed to help the dead enter the afterlife as she had helped Osiris, and she was considered the divine mother of the pharaoh, who was likened to Horus. Her maternal aid was invoked in healing spells to benefit ordinary people. Originally, she played a limited role in royal rituals and temple rites, although she was more prominent in funerary practices and magical texts. She was usually portrayed in art as a human woman wearing a throne-like hieroglyph on her head. During the New Kingdom (), as she took on traits that originally belonged to Hathor, the preeminent goddess of earlier times, Isis was portrayed wearing Hathor's headdress: a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nephthys
Nephthys or Nebet-Het in ancient Egyptian () was a goddess in ancient Egyptian religion. A member of the Great Ennead of Heliopolis in Egyptian mythology, she was a daughter of Nut and Geb. Nephthys was typically paired with her sister Isis in funerary rites because of their role as protectors of the mummy, with her brother Osiris, and as the sister-wife of Set. She was associated with mourning, the night/darkness, service (specifically temples), childbirth, the dead, protection, magic, health, embalming, and beer. Etymology Nephthys is the Greek form of an epithet (transliterated as ''Nebet-hut'', ''Nebet-het'', ''Nebt-het'', from Egyptian ''nbt-ḥwt''). The origin of the goddess Nephthys is unclear but the literal translation of her name is usually given as ''Lady of the House'' or ''Lady of the Temple.'' This title, which may be more of an epithet describing her function than a given name, probably indicates the association of Nephthys with one particular temple or s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Egyptian Pantheon
Ancient Egyptian deities are the God (male deity), gods and goddesses worshipped in ancient Egypt. The beliefs and rituals surrounding these gods formed the core of ancient Egyptian religion, which emerged sometime in prehistoric Egypt, prehistory. Deities represented natural phenomenon, natural forces and phenomena, and the Egyptians supported and appeased them through sacrifice, offerings and rituals so that these forces would continue to function according to ''maat'', or divine order. After the founding of the Egyptian state around 3100 BC, the authority to perform these tasks was controlled by the pharaoh, who claimed to be the gods' representative and managed the Egyptian temple, temples where the rituals were carried out. The gods' complex characteristics were expressed in Egyptian mythology, myths and in intricate relationships between deities: family ties, loose groups and hierarchies, and combinations of separate gods into one. Deities' diverse appearances in art ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Shu (Egyptian God)
Shu (Egyptian ''šw'', "emptiness" or "he who rises up") was one of the primordial Egyptian gods, spouse and brother to the goddess Tefnut, and one of the nine deities of the Ennead of the Heliopolis cosmogony. He was the god of light, peace, lions, air, and wind. Family In Heliopolitan theology, Atum created the first couple of the Ennead, Shu and Tefnut by masturbating or by spitting. Shu was the father of Nut and Geb and grandfather of Osiris, Isis, Set, and Nephthys. His great-grandsons are Horus and Anubis. Myths drawing of shu with a more elaborate feathered headdress similar to Onuris. As the air, Shu was considered to be a cooling, and thus calming, influence, and pacifier. Due to the association with dry air, calm, and thus Ma'at (truth, justice, order, and balance), Shu was depicted as the dry air/atmosphere between the Earth and sky, separating the two realms after the event of the First Occasion. Shu was also portrayed in art as wearing an ostrich feather. Sh ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Shu (Egyptian Deity)
Shu ( Egyptian ''šw'', "emptiness" or "he who rises up") was one of the primordial Egyptian gods, spouse and brother to the goddess Tefnut, and one of the nine deities of the Ennead of the Heliopolis cosmogony. He was the god of light, peace, lions, air, and wind. Family In Heliopolitan theology, Atum created the first couple of the Ennead, Shu and Tefnut by masturbating or by spitting. Shu was the father of Nut and Geb and grandfather of Osiris, Isis, Set, and Nephthys. His great-grandsons are Horus and Anubis. Myths drawing of shu with a more elaborate feathered headdress similar to Onuris. As the air, Shu was considered to be a cooling, and thus calming, influence, and pacifier. Due to the association with dry air, calm, and thus Ma'at (truth, justice, order, and balance), Shu was depicted as the dry air/atmosphere between the Earth and sky, separating the two realms after the event of the First Occasion. Shu was also portrayed in art as wearing an ostrich feather. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Horus The Elder
Horus (), also known as Heru, Har, Her, or Hor () in Ancient Egyptian, is one of the most significant ancient Egyptian deities who served many functions, most notably as the god of kingship, healing, protection, the sun, and the sky. He was worshipped from at least the late prehistoric Egypt until the Ptolemaic Kingdom and Roman Egypt. Different forms of Horus are recorded in history, and these are treated as distinct gods by Egyptologists."The Oxford Guide: Essential Guide to Egyptian Mythology", Edited by Donald B. Redford, Horus: by Edmund S. Meltzer, pp. 164–168, Berkley, 2003, . These various forms may be different manifestations of the same multi-layered deity in which certain attributes or syncretic relationships are emphasized, not necessarily in opposition but complementary to one another, consistent with how the Ancient Egyptians viewed the multiple facets of reality. He was most often depicted as a falcon, most likely a lanner falcon or peregrine falcon, or as ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Heliopolis (Ancient Egypt)
Heliopolis (Jwnw, Iunu; , 'the Pillars'; , ; ) was a major city of ancient Egypt. It was the capital of the 13th or Heliopolite Nome of Lower Egypt and a major religious centre. Its site is within the boundaries of Ain Shams and El Matareya, districts (''kism'') in northeastern Cairo. Heliopolis was one of the oldest cities of ancient Egypt, occupied since prehistoric Egypt.. It greatly expanded under the Old and Middle Kingdoms but is today mostly destroyed, its temples and other buildings having been scavenged for the construction of medieval Cairo. Most information about the ancient city comes from surviving records. A major surviving remnant of Heliopolis is the obelisk of the Temple of Ra- Atum erected by Senusret I of the Twelfth Dynasty. It remains in its original position (now in el-Masalla, El Matareya, Cairo). The high red granite obelisk weighs 120 tons (240,000 lbs) and is believed to be the oldest surviving obelisk in the world. Other obelisks, o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ogdoad (Egyptian)
In Egyptian mythology, the Ogdoad ( "the Eightfold"; , a plural nisba of "eight") were eight primordial deities worshiped in Hermopolis. The earliest certain reference to the Ogdoad is from the Eighteenth Dynasty, in a dedicatory inscription by Hatshepsut at the Speos Artemidos. Texts of the Late Period describe them as having the heads of frogs (male) and serpents (female), and they are often depicted in this way in reliefs of the last dynasty, the Ptolemaic Kingdom. Names The eight deities were arranged in four male–female pairs. The names have the same meanings and differ only slightly. Attributes File:Kek god.svg, Kek and other male members File:Kauket.svg, Kauket and other female members File:Heh as chaos.svg, Nu File:Heh.svg, Ḥeḥ File:Amun post Amarna (azure skin color).svg, Amun File:Amunet.svg, Amunet The names of Nu and Naunet are written with the determiners for sky and water, and it seems clear that they represent the primordial waters. � ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nut (goddess)
Nut (, ), also known by #Names, various other transcriptions, is the goddess of the sky, stars, cosmos, mothers, astronomy, and the universe in the ancient Egyptian religion. She is often depicted as a nude female covered with stars and arching over the Earth; and sometimes as a cow. Alternatively, she is identified with a water-pot (nw) above her head. Names The pronunciation of Egyptian language, ancient Egyptian is uncertain because vowels were long omitted from its writing, although her name often includes the unpronounced determinative Egyptian hieroglyphs, hieroglyph for "sky (hieroglyph), sky". Her name ', itself also meaning "Sky", is usually transcribed as "Nut" but also sometimes appears in older sources as Nunut, Nenet, Nuit or Not.Budge, ''An Egyptian hieroglyphic dictionary'' (1920)p. 350 She also appears in the hieroglyphic record by a number of epithets, not all of which are understood. Goddess of the sky, stars Nut is a daughter of Shu (Egyptian deity) ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Set (deity)
Set (; Egyptian language#Egyptological pronunciation, Egyptological: ''Sutekh - swtẖ ~ stẖ'' or: Seth ) is a deity, god of deserts, storms, disorder, violence, and foreigners in ancient Egyptian religion. In Ancient Greek, the god's name is given as (). Set had a positive role where he accompanied Ra on his solar barque, barque to repel Apep (Apophis), the serpent of Chaos. Set had a vital role as a reconciled combatant. He was lord of the Red Land (desert), where he was the balance to Horus' role as lord of the Black Land (fertile land). In the Osiris myth, the most important Egyptian mythology, Egyptian myth, Set is portrayed as the usurper who murdered and mutilated his own brother, Osiris. Osiris's sister-wife, Isis, reassembled his corpse and resurrection, resurrected her dead brother-husband with the help of the goddess Nephthys. The resurrection lasted long enough to conceive his son and heir, Horus. Horus sought revenge upon Set, and many of the ancient Egyptian myt ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
